MODERATOR Dana Eidsness Director, Maine North Atlantic Development Office (MENADO)
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
MODERATOR
Dana Eidsness
Director, Maine North Atlantic Development Office (MENADO)
Through her work leading MENADO, Ms. Eidsness leverages Maine’s transportation,
economic development, and knowledge resources to build networks that grow the Maine
economy through trade in goods, services, and innovation exchanges. Her program
interfaces with other Arctic and North Atlantic-focused organizations to ensure that Maine
is included in important discussions regarding North Atlantic resources, sustainable
development, and climate resilience. Ms. Eidsness was instrumental in developing
collaboration with Finland that led to the signing of a 2019 MOU between Finland and the
State of Maine. Dana served on the U.S. delegation to the Arctic Council’s PAME Working
Group during the U.S. Chairmanship and was Chair of the Host Committee that welcomed
the Arctic Council in Maine in 2016. MENADO is an Arctic Economic Council (AEC)
Permafrost Member and Dana leads the AEC’s Blue Economy initiative and Working
Group.
In prior positions, Dana served as Director of International Business for the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, managing their
international programs and Shanghai Office, she was Executive Director of the Forum on Democracy & Trade in Washington, D.C.,
Vermont Director of International Trade and Executive Director of the Vermont Global Trade Partnership; and she worked as a
regional director for the Maine International Trade Center and as an International Project Manager for the Maine Manufacturing
Extension Partnership (MEP), a program of the U.S. Department of Commerce and National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Earlier in her career, Dana worked in the private sector in a variety of international positions and as an international business
development consultant.
Eidsness holds a B.A. in International Studies from Dominican University in San Rafael, CA and studied International Service and
Development at World College West in Northern, CA. Dana lives on a small island in Maine with her husband and two children.
OPENING REMARKS
Kirsti Kauppi
Ambassador of Finland to the United States
Ambassador Kauppi started her current role in September 2015. Before that (2012-2015) she
was Political Director (Director General for Political Affairs) at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in
Helsinki. In 2009-2012 Ambassador Kauppi served as Director General for Africa and the
Middle East.
In 2005 she was appointed Ambassador of Finland to Austria and Permanent Representative
to the UN-related international organizations located in Vienna. During her term in Vienna,
Ambassador Kauppi also served for three years as the Finnish Governor in the IAEA Board of
Governors, including vice-chair of the Board.
In addition to Vienna, Ambassador Kirsti Kauppi has served in the Finnish Embassy in Berlin
(2003-2005) as Deputy Chief of Mission (Minister), as well in Washington (1997-2000), and
Bangkok (1989-92). Ambassador Kauppi's solid knowledge on European Union affairs builds
on her four year service (1993-1997), in the Finnish Permanent Mission to the EU in Brussels.
Later on (2001-2003) she was head of EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy coordination in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs
in Helsinki. This was after serving two years (2000-2001) as advisor to the State Secretary.
In the beginning of her career in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1983, Ms. Kauppi worked primarily with development cooperation
issues, including a two-year period (1985-86) in the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva.
Ambassador Kirsti Kauppi was born in 1957 in Oulu, Northern Finland. She studied in the Helsinki School of Economics and
Business Administration and received her Master's degree in Economics in 1981. In 1983 she joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs
of Finland where she has made her professional career since then.
Ambassador Kirsti Kauppi is, in addition to her native Finnish, fluent in English, Swedish, German and French. She is an avid
reader of history and enjoys walking and bicycle riding in her free time.
Stavros Lambrinis
Ambassador of the European Union to the United States
Stavros Lambrinidis is the Ambassador of the European Union to the United States, as of
March 1, 2019.
From 2012 to February 2019, he served as the European Union Special Representative for
Human Rights. In 2011, he was Foreign Affairs Minister of Greece.
Between 2004 and 2011, he was twice elected Member of the European Parliament (MEP)
with the Greek Social Democratic Party (PASOK). He served as Vice-President of the
European Parliament (2009-11), Vice-President of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home
Affairs Committee (2004-09), and Head of the PASOK Delegation (2005-11).
Between 2000 and 2004, he was Director-General of the International Olympic Truce Centre,
an International Olympic Committee organization. He served as Ambassador ad personam
of the Hellenic Republic (1999-2004); Secretary-General of the Greek Foreign Ministry, responsible for Expatriate Greeks (1996-
99); and Chief of Staff to the Greek Foreign Minister (1996). Between 1988 and 1993 he worked as an Attorney at Wilmer, Cutler
& Pickering in Washington, D.C., specializing in international trade, transactions, and arbitration.
Mr. Lambrinidis was born in Athens, Greece in 1962. He studied Economics and Political Science at Amherst College (Bachelor
of Arts degree, 1984) and Law at Yale Law School (Juris Doctor degree, 1988), where he was also Managing Editor of The Yale
Journal of International Law. He is a 1980 graduate of the Athens College High School in Greece. He is married and has a daughter.
PANEL 1
A Policy-Maker’s Take on the Role of Forest Bioeconomy in the Green Economy Transition
Jaana Husu-Kallio
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland
Jaana Husu-Kallio has been the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and
Forestry of Finland since 2012. She has also been the Chair of the Management Board
of the European Food Safety Authority since 2016 and a member since 2012.
Her previous roles included Director-General of the Finnish Food Safety Authority from
2006 and Deputy Director-General of DG Health and Consumer Protection of the
European Commission from 2002.
Before joining the European Commission, she worked in the Finnish Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry as Chief Veterinary Officer and as the Director-General of the
Department of Food and Health.
Dr. Husu-Kallio graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Helsinki in 1984, obtained a PD in veterinary microbiology in
1990 and a specialization degree in infectious animal diseases in 1992 from the same university. She has been a member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry since 2004 and received a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Faculty of
Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Helsinki in 2008. Since 2014, she has also been the Chair of the Management Board
of the University of Helsinki and a member since 2010.
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine)
U.S. House Committee on Agriculture
Congresswoman Pingree was the first woman elected to Congress from her district. She has
previously served on the House Rules Committee and Armed Services Committee. She currently
sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, serving on the Subcommittee on
Agriculture, Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment, and Subcommittee on Military
Construction and Veterans Affairs. She also has a seat on the House Agriculture Committee.
Among other issues important to Mainers, congresswoman Pingree has been an advocate in
Congress for reforming federal policy to better support the diverse range of American
agriculture—including sustainable, organic, and locally focused farming—as well as to reduce
food waste. Many provisions from comprehensive legislation she introduced to make these
reforms were passed in both the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills. She received a 2017 James Beard
Leadership Award for her national leadership in food system reform.
She has also been recognized for her leadership on a number of other issues, including assisting survivors of military sexual
trauma, strengthening the creative and arts economy, and helping coastal communities address threats to their future.
Before congressional duties, she served (2003-2007) as the National President and CEO of Common Cause, a non-partisan citizen
activist group with nearly 300,000 members and 35 state chapters. Common Cause's mission is to help citizens make their voices
heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest. She was also elected to the Maine
State Senate in 1992, representing Knox County. In 1996, Chellie was chosen by her peers to be the Maine Senate Majority
Leader. She helped lead the Senate for four more years, until leaving office due to term limits. As a Senator, she fought for
economic and social justice, taking on powerful adversaries - most notably the pharmaceutical lobby. In her last session, Pingree
sponsored one of the nation's first prescription drug pricing bills, MaineRX.
Congresswoman Pingree has three grown children -- Asa, Cecily, and Hannah, former Speaker of the Maine House of
Representatives.
Congressman Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas)
U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman is a Hot Springs native currently serving his third term as
representative from the Fourth District of Arkansas, having first been elected in 2014.
Westerman serves on the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure, where he is Ranking Member of the Water Resources and
Environment Subcommittee. Westerman also serves on the Minority Whip Team under the
leadership of House Minority Whip Steve Scalise.
Prior to serving in Congress, Westerman was elected to two terms in the Arkansas General
Assembly, where he was the state’s first Republican House Majority Leader since
Reconstruction following the 2013 GOP takeover of the Arkansas House of Representatives.
An engineer and forester by trade, Westerman worked for 22 years at Mid-South Engineering
in Hot Springs. He was named Engineer of the Year by the Arkansas Society of Professional
Engineers in 2013.
A 1990 graduate of the University of Arkansas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological and Agricultural Engineering,
Westerman was a four-year walk-on member of the Razorback football team. He was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumni
Award in 2005 and the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012. Westerman is also a graduate of Yale University, earning a Master of
Forestry degree in 2001.
Westerman lives in Hot Springs with his wife, Sharon, and their four children. He enjoys hunting and fishing.
Amanda Beal
Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, State of Maine
Ms. Biel’s life-long interest in how we produce food began as a child growing up on her family's
commercial dairy farm in Maine, as well as on the coast of Casco Bay, where she has fond
memories of digging for dinner in the clam flats alongside her grandfather, and warming the
bench of his smelt shanty in the winter.
Before joining the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF), Biel was the
President & CEO of Maine Farmland Trust, and prior to that, MFT’s Policy & Research Director.
She also worked previously in the public health field, and for several years as an independent
consultant on food systems-related projects for a number of fisheries, agriculture, and other
food-focused organizations and businesses.
She has authored and co-authored numerous related papers and was a co-author of the
publication: "A New England Food Vision: Healthy Food for All, Sustainable Farming and
Fishing, Thriving Communities." She holds an M.S. from Tufts University, completing the Agriculture, Food & Environment program
at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of New Hampshire in
the Natural Resources and Earth Systems Science program.
Shannon Hanna
Natural Resources Deputy, Michigan Department of Natural Resources
As DNR natural resources deputy, Hanna administer the divisions that oversee Michigan's wildlife
and fisheries, state forests and state parks, minerals and law enforcement
Hanna has more than 20 years of experience with the DNR, formerly as assistant chief of the
department's Forest Resources Division since January 2018. In that role, Hanna has worked on
developing the division's latest strategic plan; helped with new initiatives, such as the Good
Neighbor Authority, in which DNR staff assist in managing timber on federal lands; and been elected
to and will serve on the Michigan State University Forestry Advisory Board.
Starting out as a seasonal employee, Hanna worked with the DNR for five years in that capacity
before being hired on full-time in 2003. She spent 10 total years in the field (five seasonal and five as a wildlife technician) before
taking a biologist position in Lansing, working in the department's privately owned cervidae program (a designation that includes
game ranches and hunting ranches).
Later in her career, Hanna moved into policy and regulations for the DNR Wildlife Division, tackling some of the more complex
initiatives including the first management regulations for chronic wasting disease, the restructuring of Michigan's hunting license
package and challenges surrounding feral swine.
Hanna earned a bachelor's degree in wildlife biology from Grand Valley State University and a master's in forestry from Michigan
State University. She studied forest health issues, including special emphasis on beech bark disease research in the Upper
Peninsula.
A Fowlerville resident, Hanna gets outdoors as often as possible. She enjoys hunting – especially turkey hunting – fishing, trapping
and hiking, as well as spending time in Michigan state parks and national parks throughout the country.
PANEL 2
Creating a Business Case and Catalyzing Green Growth in Sustainable Forest Bioeconomy
Peter Wehrheim
Head of the Unit
Bioeconomy and Food Systems, Directorate General for Research and
Innovation, European Commission
Peter Wehrheim is Head of Unit for the “Bioeconomy and Food System” within the Directorate
General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission in Brussels. Prior to this
assignment, he worked for the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural
Development, Phil Hogan. From 2010 to 2018 he was Head of Unit for Land Use and Climate
Finance in DG Climate Action. Before 2004, Peter worked at the Universities of Bonn/DE,
Maryland/US (with a Heisenberg scholarship of the German Research Foundation) and
Kiel/DE. He received his doctoral degree in agricultural economics from the University of
Giessen, Germany and comes from a vinery in southern Germany
Antti Asikainen
Executive Vice President of Research, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)
Asikainen has been working as the professor in forest technology since 2001. His research areas
are biomass availability and policy studies, wood harvesting technology and logistics.
He has been the National team leader of several tasks of IEA Bioenergy looking at the use of
forest biomass for energy production. Asikainen is the member of the Finnish Climate Change
Panel (2016-2018) and he has contributed to several bioenergy related policy briefs to National
and EU’s decision makers. Asikainen coordinated Boreal Green Bioeconomy programme in Luke
in 2016-2019. Previously he has been coordinating large forest bioenergy programmes
(Bioenergy from forests 2007-2011, ForestEnergy2020 joint research programme (2012-2015).
He coordinated EU’s FP7 project on the use of residual forest biomass for energy (INFRES) in
2011-2015. He was nominated in the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry in
2013.
Donna LaCourt
Economic/Community Development Specialist
Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
Donna is an Economic/Community Development Specialist with the Michigan Department of
Agriculture and Rural Development and has been in this role since 2014. She specializes in forest
products and international trade. Prior to this position, she was an International Trade Development
Manager with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation where she worked in both
international trade and bioenergy business development. From January 2007 to May 2008, Donna
was Michigan’s State Forester and the Assistant Chief of the Forest, Mineral and Fire Management
Division within the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Prior to joining the DNR, Donna worked
for International Paper for 13 years in a variety of forest resources management and staff positions
in the United States, and international assignments in Brazil and Russia.
Donna holds a BS in Resource Management and Forest Biology from the State University of New York College of Environmental
Science and Forestry and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Forestry from North Carolina State University. Donna is both a Certified Global
Business Professional and an Economic Development Finance Professional. She is a board member of the Michigan Forest
Biomaterials Institute and an active member of the American Hardwood Export Council.
Jarmo Heinonen
Senior Director, Bio- Circular Economy and Cleantech, Business Finland
Jarmo Heinonen is working as Senior Director, Bio-, Circular Economy and Cleantech sector at
Business Finland. He has been working in Business Finland and Tekes already 20 years and
has gained there strong innovation strategy, financing and business internationalization skills.
Prior to current position he was the Head of Tekes Shanghai office (2010-2016), Director of
Forest and Chemical Industries (2008 – 2010) and Director of Process Technology Unit (2006-
2008) in Tekes. He has worked earlier also at the Finnish Pulp and Paper Research Institute and
Pulp and Paper Centre in University of Toronto.
Mr. Heinonen graduated from Helsinki University of Technology and obtained his M.Sc. degree
in Department of Chemical Engineering.
Peter MacKeith
Dean and Professor of Architecture
Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, University of Arkansas
Peter MacKeith is dean and professor of architecture at the Fay Jones School of Architecture
and Design at the University of Arkansas. Appointed in July, 2014, and reappointed for a
second five year term in 2019, he is the fifth dean of the school and a nationally recognized
design educator and administrator.
From 1999 to 2014, MacKeith was associate dean, professor of architecture and associate
curator for architecture and design at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at
Washington University in St. Louis. MacKeith was the director of the Master of Architecture –
International Program at the Helsinki University of Technology Finland from 1995-1999, and
he held previous academic and administrative appointments at the University of Virginia and
Yale University. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Literature and International Relations,
with distinction, as an Echols Scholar from the University of Virginia (1981) and his Master of
Architecture and the Alpha Rho Chi Medal from Yale University (1985).
MacKeith serves as chair of the advisory committee for the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program, a regional initiative
of the Walton Family Foundation, and is a member of the editorial board of Places Journal for architecture, landscape architecture
and urbanism. He also serves as Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Campus Architecture and Design at the University of
Arkansas. He is currently overseeing the completion of a $75,000,000 capital campaign for the Fay Jones School, and guiding the
design and construction of the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation, a regional center for research
and development of new wood products and new approaches in sustainable construction materials.
Charlotte Mace
Director, Office of Business Development
Maine Department of Economic & Community Development
Charlotte is the Director of the Office of Business Development at the Maine Department of
Economic & Community Development. She was previously the Executive Director of Biobased
Maine, an industry trade association advancing Maine’s bioeconomy. During her time at Biobased
Maine, Charlotte drafted legislation to create Maine’s first renewable chemical tax credit and re-
instate Maine’s biofuels tax credit. This legislation was signed into law by Governor Mills early in
2020. Charlotte currently serves on the Executive Committee of the industry-led group Forest
Opportunity Roadmap Maine. Charlotte also serves on the board of Maine’s venture capital fund,
Maine Venture Fund. Charlotte has an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Bowdoin
College, and an MBA from the University of Southern Maine.
You can also read
